Jessica's Journal--A Little Girl's Life

New address

2010-12-30T12:51:00.001-05:00

I've decided to combine the kids' blogs into one blog. It's easier for me and I've been finding more stories about things they both do that I'm never sure how to separate into different blog entries. So from now on check out here:

http://monkeybusinessjanda.blogspot.com/

My angel

2010-12-22T13:23:00.002-05:00

We're kind of tight on space in our new place. Most of the Christmas presents are in the basement, but I was wrapping the other day and brought them into the house to wrap, then decided to keep them there till Christmas. I put them in the hall closet. I had told the kids the presents were in the basement and I hoped this would eliminate snooping.

I was unloading a few things from the car yesterday and when I got back upstairs I noticed Jessica rummaging in the closet. Kind of sharply, I asked her what she was doing.

She started crying. Then she said she had presents for me and Daddy and was trying to hide them and how was she supposed to do that when we were always there?

She had a point. I told her I would go into my bedroom and wait for a few minutes while she found a hiding place. She was too upset and ran into her room.

After a while she cheered up and I forgot about it.

I stashed a few more presents in the closet today and I noticed a little package in there. I didn't take a close look at it but I know it was from her.

Absence does not make the heart grow fonder

2010-12-07T12:29:00.002-05:00

One of Jessica's best friends last year in kindergarten was Emily. Emily really liked Jessica and was always writing her notes telling her how much she loved it. It was really sweet. After we moved, Emily was one of the kids Jessica repeatedly said she missed and wanted to have a playdate with. They had a couple of playdates and Emily came to Jessica's birthday party.

The day before Thanksgiving I took the kids to the New England Aquarium. I figured since it was such a big travel day, the aquarium wouldn't be as crowded. I was right.

On the way out, guess who we bumped into? Emily and her grandparents, who live in Boston. Emily has always been pretty shy and she immediately hid behind her grandmother. I guess it was contagious, because then Jessica started hiding behind me. Neither girl would talk to each other. It just seemed kind of odd, and a shame, that these 2 girls who liked each other so much, were suddenly shy with each other.

Small miracle

2010-12-04T15:35:00.002-05:00

Jessica is in a play for the next couple of weeks. A semi-professional production company needed 100 kids to play elves in their Christmas play. The kids actually play 2 parts: elf and child. When they're the child, they wear PJ's and for elves they wear a Santa hat and "something festive." Jessica is wearing a Christmas dress, red velour.

So, today Xander had a birthday party to go to from 11 to 12:30 and then Jessica had to be at the matinee performance at 12:45. We had to go straight from the party to the play, so she wore her Christmas dress, which is the first outfit she needs.

I had forgotten the party was at "Plaster Fun Time." Kids pick out a premade plaster creature and then paint it. I had somehow hoped that Xander would just let me drop him off, but not only didn't that happen, he spent much of the party saying "I want to go home!" At least he didn't cry most of the time like another kid. Since I had to stay, I let Jessica pick out something to paint.

She wore a smock, but the entire time I kept saying, "Be careful of your dress, be careful of your dress." Not a drop on it. It was a Christmas miracle.

The professional

2010-11-10T17:07:00.002-05:00

Now that Jessica gets marbles (which lead to money) for certain household chores, she's much more amenable when I ask her to do one of those chores. I usually call out "I have a marble-earning opportunity!" and see which child bites.

But even though that's the phrase I use, it was odd to hear Jessica ask, in a very businesslike tone, "Do you have a marble-earning opportunity available?" She was one marble away from earning $5 so she was very motivated.

7 years of luck

2010-10-17T17:23:00.001-04:00

Mostly. Happy 7th Birthday Jessica!

Phrasing

2010-09-27T17:53:00.001-04:00

I just handed the kids a piece of gum each.

"Remember," I said in my best Mom tone, "if I see the gum out of your mouth, I'm going to take it away."

Jessica's response? "What if you don't see it out of our mouths?"

Losing my marbles

2010-09-22T16:52:00.004-04:00

It's really been a struggle to get Jessica to do chores. For a while we asked her to do a certain amount of work (such as empty the utensil tray from the dishwasher and feed the cat) during the week to earn her allowance. Well, it inevitably caused lots of whining and complaints and I didn't really track it so I gave out her allowance whether or not she actually did enough work.

Then I read this idea in Family Fun: instead of giving allowance every week, whenever she does certain chores, she gets a marble. The marbles accumulate in a jar. When she gets enough marbles (roughly equivalent to the amount of work we expected her to do in the course of one week), she gets $5. No more weekly allowance.

I read about this, probably 4 or 5 months ago, but with moving and vacation and laziness, I hadn't gotten around to implementing it before now. We started on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, we were out, and when we got home, the dishwasher was done running. I called into the living room, "Does anyone want to earn a marble?" (The bonus about this is that it gives Xander a chance to earn money too; he's too young for a real allowance right now).

They didn't hear me, so Hari repeated it to them and they probably ran each other over trying to get into the kitchen. I let them both empty the utensils because they were fighting over who got to do it, thus handing out 2 marbles for what is really only a 1 marble job.

It's 3 days later and they jump at the chance to earn marbles. It's a little early to be sure, but I think this is actually going to work.

Dorothy

2010-09-21T12:35:00.001-04:00

Just a quick link to one of the pictures from Jessica's Family Fun photo shoot:
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/dorothy-costume-930465/

The magazine is out now, though I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet.

Cat envy

2010-09-08T15:42:00.003-04:00

Jessica feels kind of bad that our kitten Lily seems to prefer me over her. I tried to make her feel better by saying maybe it was because I'm the one that feeds her, but I suspect it's also because I am a lot more gentle with her. I don't, for example, try to wrap her up in a blanket and cradle her in my arms like a baby (although, to be fair, sometimes Lily actually seems to enjoy this). I also don't chase her all over the apartment when she jumps out of my arms. And when I'm holding her, if she struggles, I let her go. But I'm sure if I'd had a kitten when I was Jessica's age, I'd be doing exactly what Jessica is doing.

* * *

On a completely different note, last year Jessica shocked me by telling me she was willing to wear jeans. To her credit she did wear them occasionally, but I probably could have gotten by with one pair instead of the 3 that I bought.

This year, she announced she didn't want jeans. This didn't shock me. So I haven't bought her any.

Today when I met her at school, she firmly announced that she wanted to wear jeans. Since this contradicted her statement of a couple of weeks ago, I asked why.

"So I can put my baby Zhu-zhu pet in the pocket."

Of course. Why else would someone want to wear a particular item of clothing?

This comes from her new friend Sarah who brought her baby Zhu-zhu pet to school yesterday and apparently kept it in her pocket. Since Jessica didn't have pockets, I'm guessing she was forced to keep her toy in her backpack.

I guess we're going jeans shopping tomorrow.

Time management

2010-09-01T13:16:00.004-04:00

Whenever we want the kids to do something that they don't want to do (or stop doing something they want to keep on doing) we give them a time limit and set the timer. Then when the timer goes off, they have to start/stop what they're doing. It really does result in less arguing and better obedience.

Now, in our old place, where there was an open layout between the kitchen and living room, we just set the kitchen stove timer. In our new place, the kitchen is down the hall from the living room so if they're in the living room, we use a portable dial-type timer.

Jessica loves this timer, for some unknown reason. She sets it to go off randomly and when it goes off, sets it again.

This morning was the first day of school, time to get back on a schedule. She was playing with Xander and I told her 5 minutes before we had to leave for school. I set the timer, then went outside to get Xander's stroller from the shed. When I got back inside, I checked the timer, expecting it to have already gone off.

Not only had it not gone off, there was still about 10 minutes on it. I thought this was odd but chalked it up to the timer not working right, because if you set it for less than 15 minutes, you have to dial it past 15 minutes and then back down. I figured I hadn't done this.

In any case, I set the timer for 2 more minutes.

When it went off, Jessica looked up in surprise.

"Did you touch the timer?" she asked, suspiciously.

This set off alarms in my head.

"Did *you* touch the timer?" I asked, suddenly realizing why the timer still had 10 minutes on it.

Giggles and refusal to meet my eyes were enough of an answer.

That little sucker thought I wouldn't realize the time had been changed. She is devious!

She's at her first day of first grade in her new school now. I hope it's going okay. I've probably been more nervous about it than she's been. Here's a picture of her from this morning:

Kitten!

2010-08-12T16:47:00.003-04:00

I've been missing having a second cat since Chelsea died 2 years ago but I wasn't ready for a kitten until now. When we decided to move, thus requiring Jessica to start a new school, she wasn't happy. So I did what every mother would do in this situation: I bribed her.

And what did I bribe her with? A kitten! Personally, I see it as a win-win situation.

The only caveat was that we wait till after our vacation to acquire the promised kitten. For weeks all I heard was, "when are we going to get the kitten?" and "I want the kitten!" (I cannot hope to convey the whiny tone that accompanied these words.)

We got back from vacation on Tuesday. Yesterday was Wednesday and Wednesday evening we drove to North Andover to see a very cute kitten I saw on Craigslist. I've been wanting another tortoiseshell cat, like Chelsea was, and this kitten, even if she's not a tortoiseshell, has similar enough markings.

Well, it was love at first sight. Jessica liked the kitten too. She liked all of the kittens. There were 6 of them. They're only 5 weeks old and still nursing. In fact, it was dinner time when we got there and all kittens were eating in full force. The cat's owner said it'll be 2-3 weeks before they're fully weaned and eating dry food, and mentioned one of the cat's previous litters had weaned after only 7 weeks, while another litter took longer.

She said she'd contact us when the kitten is ready to leave her mommy.

Now, I thought I was doing this nice thing by taking Jess to see the kitten. I thought she'd be really excited, which she was. What I hadn't thought through was going home without the kitten after having seen the kitten.

As soon as we got into the car, she started crying. Really heartbroken kind of crying. I know 2 to 3 weeks seems like forever to an (almost) 7 year old.

Even worse, then she started going on about how she wanted this kitten to have babies, because the woman who owned the mommy cat had talked so much about when the kittens were born. I tried to explain to her about all the cats and kittens that already need homes, that we don't need to add to the cat overpopulation.

Then, as usual, I spoke without thinking: "Maybe we can foster a pregnant cat when you're older." Now, I wouldn't mind this, but I'm not sure a house with 2 children and 2 cats is the best foster home for a pregnant cat and I think it would be even more heartbreaking to her to have to say good bye to the kittens.

But I'll worry about that later. ; )

Playdate

2010-08-07T19:04:00.001-04:00

Aunt Lisa's next door neighbors have a little girl Jessica's age, so when we visit, Jessica likes to go play with Caroline. Well, when we were there this past week, she came in one evening and asked if it was okay to go with Caroline to her "brother's girlfriend's" house. Well, of course, the first thing that flashed through my mind was that I didn't know his girlfriend and I wasn't sure that I wanted her to go, and that I didn't know where she lived.

A quick consult with Aunt Lisa reminded me that Caroline's brother is Xander's age, and that the 3 year old girlfriend in question lived just down the street.

I let her go.

Travel

2010-07-03T21:32:00.003-04:00

Jessica left today to stay with Nanamma and Tattya for a week. She was really excited about going but warned me no phone calls in the evening. This is because when she talked to me in the evening when she visited last summer, it made her sad because she missed me.

So, instead at about 6:30, she called Hari on his phone. Hari and I both love to talk to Jessica on her phone because her voice somehow sounds higher pitched and she sounds younger even than she really is.

It was funny listening to Hari's end of the conversation. Apparently Jessica was under the impression that they had just gotten home (I drove halfway and her grandparents drove halfway and we met in the middle). I knew for a fact they had gotten home about 4 hours earlier, but in the mind of a 6 year old, that translated to "a little while ago."

Then I heard him say, "It's the same time here, Jessica. We're in the same time zone." Apparently because it was 6:30 and getting dark, she thought it was later there than it was here.

I miss her already!

This and that

2010-06-14T17:43:00.002-04:00

We've been asking Jessica to help set the table recently. Well, tonight she reached her limit. She said she didn't know why she had to set the table, since she had just set it last night. We explained that we were eating dinner again.

She then suggested that we just eat right out of the pan.

* * *

Sometimes I worry about her future career. She really likes to pretend she's a waitress. Tonight, she's walking around in her fairy costume and high heels and I adjusted her future career to cocktail waitress.

We're off to see the Wizard

2010-06-11T10:06:00.004-04:00

Jessica had a fitting yesterday for her Dorothy costume for the Family Fun Halloween issue. We'd never been to a fitting before so we didn't know what to expect. It was pretty simple. They had her put on a white dress and then they put a blue and checked sort of dress over that:

They had only painted one shoe because they wanted to make sure the shoes were the right size. They played with the sashes (originally there were two) and made the dress a little shorter than it was originally. They had a picture of Judy Garland as Dorothy that they kept referencing.

Now for the last couple of weeks Jessica has been asking to have her hair put up in braids (or, as she says, "when you take 3 pieces and twist them"). She had them in braids yesterday. But since this is a costume, they had her put on a wig with braids. Obviously her real hair is much more beautiful:

The photographer who will be doing the actual shoot in 2 weeks was taking pictures just to get an idea of how she looked. Then the batteries in her camera died. I had my camera with me (obviously) so she used that and took some of these pictures. I emailed them to her when I got home. This is the sort of finished look:

More to come after her shoot on the 25th!

Play ball!

2010-05-02T11:52:00.004-04:00

I like Jessica to try out team sports so she can learn sportsmanship and become the first woman pitcher for the Red Sox. She hasn't tried T-ball yet, so when signups started, I asked her if she wanted to play.

"No," she said.

Hmmm. Okay, then I asked, "If Brady plays, will you play?" Brady is our neighbor and one of Jessica's closest friends.

"Yes," she immediately replied.

I consulted with Brady's mom and he was indeed playing, so I signed her up.

When the roster came out a couple of weeks ago, a completely unforeseen problem arose: they weren't on the same team. Frankly, this possibility had not occurred to me. I waited a day or two to tell her, trying to figure out how to break it to her.

I went for the honest approach. "Jessica, I have bad news. Brady isn't on your T-ball team. But Emerson is and Jared and Cooper." These were all kids she knew from preschool and kindergarten.

"Okay," she said.

Okay? Did she mean the situation was okay or was she just acknowledging what I had told her?

"Do you still want to play?"

"Yeah. As long as I know some of the kids."

For this I worried.

Then I needed to buy her a mitt. At the advice of other experienced T-ball parents, I went to Target. Of course we picked out a pink mitt. While we were in the store looking, something occurred to me.

"Jessica, do you even know what T-ball is?"

"No." It didn't seem to bother her at all.

I gave her a 30 second description and decided to let the coach do the rest.

Yesterday was Opening Day, which included a game by the minor league (which apparently is the league before Little League) and a short parade of all the teams. See if you can pick Jessica out in this picture:

Here's a close-up.

Yeah, she's the one with a dress on under her shirt. I'm just hoping I can persuade her to ditch the dress for actual games.

Let's Dance

2010-04-11T12:32:00.003-04:00

(click on the picture to see it bigger)

Daisy Promise

2010-03-24T18:14:00.000-04:00

Jessica is working to get her first Daisy Petal (like a Girl/Boy Scout patch). It involves memorizing the Daisy Promise (which I keep calling the Daisy Pledge, for no particular reason). Thinking like the mother of two that I am, I figured this would take days of practice and repetition. We started last Thursday. I read her the first line, she repeated it a couple of times, then I read the second line, she repeated it. Then I had her so both the first and second line. There were only 4 lines, so we got through it pretty quickly, she said the whole thing 2 or 3 times, and then wanted to stop.

On Sunday, I sat her down again to practice. I couldn't even remember how the thing began but she immediately recited the entire thing.

Maybe my memory was that good when I was 6, but I seriously doubt it.

No means yes

2010-03-23T18:10:00.002-04:00

At least in the mind of a 6 year old. A couple of weeks ago, Xander had me up at 6:00 and I was really tired, so I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Hari had just come home from his shift and apparently Jessica asked him if she could paint. He told her no and went to bed.

When I woke up 15 or 20 minutes later, I went to find the kids. They were sitting, not at the kitchen table, which is the only paint-sanctioned area in the house, but at the little table in the playroom. Paint was spattered not only on the table but on the wall.

"Why are you painting here?" I asked. Then a more obvious question struck me, "Did you ask if you could paint?"

"I asked Daddy."

"What did Daddy say?"

"He said no, so I went to the closet and took out the paints." Never mind the disobedience. The paints are on the closet shelf, about 5 feet high. She had climbed onto...something, a chair, a piece of furniture, and pulled them down.

Then I went on to explain that no means no, even if she was capable of doing it without parental assistance.

Tooth fairy

2010-03-07T09:52:00.004-05:00

It finally happened: Jessica finally lost her first baby tooth! About 2 weeks ago, I called the dentist about her shark tooth and they said if it didn't loosen up soon to bring her in. They were concerned about the permanent tooth not coming in correctly. Theoretically, if the baby tooth were out of the way, the permanent tooth would move forward.

Jessica did not want to go to the dentist. Even the slightly hint that they might want to pull the tooth scared her. Fortunately, within a week of that phone call, the tooth started to be loose. And Jessica started wiggling. And wiggling. And wiggling.

Then, on Wednesday, just after brushing her teeth for bedtime, out it popped! I was so glad it was at home, because she'd been worried it was going to bleed and it did bleed a little. She is terrified of blood. But it was all good because it was home.

We found a small box, put the incredibly tiny tooth in it, set it under the pillow and sure enough, the Tooth Fairy made an appearance overnight.

Before:

After:

It's a little hard to see the gap because the infamous shark tooth is there behind it but look closely. Lower bottom , right center tooth.

Note to self

2010-03-07T09:32:00.002-05:00

Next time I'm telling Jessica about the Beatles, make sure she understands at the beginning of the conversation that I'm talking about the greatest band ever. Not insects.

Everybody loves Saturday (afternoon)

2010-02-27T14:13:00.007-05:00

The fun never ends here on weekends. For example, an earlier conversation:

Jessica: "Where's Cute?" (her doll). "It's been a while since I changed her diaper."
Yeah, I thought, like 2 or 3 weeks.

Now she's squeezed into her size 3-4 costume from her second (and last) ballet recital. For the record she wears a size 6/7.

Here's how she looked:

Yet more abc's

2010-02-20T09:34:00.002-05:00

We're visiting Aunt Nutan. When we went to have breakfast yesterday, she didn't have the same semi-sugary cereal we have at home. So I read off the cereal they had: shredded wheat, cheerios, raisin bran, special K.

Jessica: "What does the K stand for?"

Good question.

* * *

Then there's her other question. I give the kids fluoride pills because we have a well and the water isn't fluoridated. It's in a child-resistant container. Several times she has asked me how to open it. I tell her I can't tell her. Then she also asks, "How does the container know if you're a child or adult?"

ABC's

2010-02-18T15:13:00.002-05:00

Jessica is learning to read and write. This is, in general, a wonderful thing. But now that she's learning to write and spell, she tries to spell everything.

Half of her sentences are like this:
"Mom, can I have some d?" (as in d for dessert)
"Are we going to the j?" (j for gym; close enough)
"Let's read a b." (b for book)

Sometimes it's obvious what word the letter she's saying is meant to represent. Sometimes it's not. It's a little tiring to spend so much time deciphering what she has to say. Just SAY it.

Mushiness

2010-02-15T09:17:00.001-05:00

Last night Jessica came up to me. She said, "I have something for you. You can't hold it in your hand, but you can hold it in your heart." And she gave me a kiss.

Really, how sweet is that?

Finally!

2010-02-07T20:46:00.002-05:00

A use for all those annoying little flowers that come with the Playmobil fairy sets Jessica is so fond of. Every set comes with what seems like dozens of tiny little flowers that, at adult height, look remarkably similar to crumbs. I'm forever picking them up off the floor or, in a less tolerant frame of mind, vacuuming them up.

Well, Jessica came home from school last week with a notice saying that for the 100th day of school, they should bring in 100 of something. Hari had a fine time suggesting various things of which Jessica could bring in: 100 little brothers, 100 bricks, 100 cats, etc. I was more boring and could only come up with paper clips or pennies. But then one of Jessica's friend's mom posted on Facebook that her son was bringing in 100 army men. That got me to thinking about Jessica's vast toy collection. Surely there had to be 100 of *something* in there. Hari thought there would be 100 Polly Pockets but I knew without looking that that wasn't true.

That was when my mind turned to Playmobil, pioneer of toys with tons of very tiny parts. And then I had my flash of genius: the flowers.

So I went through the 2 main rooms where the playmobil toys are kept, and even found a few just walking from room to room. In the end, we had 101 flowers. Jessica counted them herself, 10 piles of ten. Plus--very easy to transport back and forth to school and if she loses them? BONUS.

Lights camera action!

2010-02-02T09:41:00.003-05:00

We got a call from Jessica's modeling agency last Thursday that she'd been booked (hired) for a commercial. When we got to the studio yesterday, we found out it wasn't actually a commercial but a short film to publicize the new airport in Dubai, and would only be shown over in Dubai. Bummer.

Still it was pretty cool. The scenes she had to shoot (nonspeaking) were her and her little "brother" waiting in the airport, watching the planes, riding in a car, walking down a hallway with her "mother" and then going to greet her "father" when he arrived home from a trip. It was all done with "green screen" so they had to do a lot of pretending that things were there that weren't.

She did really well! It was kind of a long day, from 8am to 2pm. She took direction pretty well and wasn't shy at all. Plus she got a new toy and a new red dress (with matching dollie dress for baby doll Cute) out of it. Oh, and they're paying her too. Not bad for a day's work.

I have the email address of one of the people working on the project so hopefully we'll be able to get a copy of it or somehow see a copy of it.

Pictures to follow. Blurry, because no flash allowed. = )

Next stop: Hollywood?

Here's a link to some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039020&id=1595412041&l=e56a8f93e6

Sharks!

2010-01-27T14:51:00.003-05:00

I've always known Jessica would be late losing her baby teeth because "they" say if you get your baby teeth in late, you'll lose them late. She was almost a year old before the first tooth poked through, and Jessica, being Jessica, couldn't get the teeth most kids get first: the bottom center two; not even the top center two for my girl. She got the ones on top next to the center two: FANGS.

The whole fangs thing is kind of ironic given that yesterday Jessica said her bottom tooth was feeling funny. Hari looked in and saw a permanent tooth starting to come in behind one of the front baby teeth. Some internet research revealed to me that this phenomenon occurs frequently and is usually the bottom 2 front teeth. It's known as "shark teeth" presumably because sharks have several rows of teeth (Thank you "Magic School Bus: the Great Shark Escape.")

She was very excited at the prospect of losing her first baby tooth. Not that the baby tooth is anywhere near loose, but she's been watching her friends lose teeth for months now, and I'm guessing she's going to do her best to make it loose. Guess the Tooth Fairy better educate herself as to the current going rates for lost teeth.

That's what I've been doing wrong...

2010-01-08T15:16:00.003-05:00

Ever since Jessica started school, she has barely been touching her lunch. This is because the kids are read a story when they're done with lunch and she doesn't want to miss the story.

Every so often, once or twice a month at most, I give her money to buy ice cream. I did it this week. She had the audacity to come home and complain I gave her too much lunch and she didn't have enough time to finish her ice cream because she had to eat part of her lunch before they would let her buy ice cream.

I'd had enough of the non-eating at that point. I told her no more ice cream if she continued not to eat her lunch (or hardly eat it). Three days in a row she came home having eaten all or most of her lunch. Today we had a bit of a setback, but still, going in the right direction.

All inclusive

2009-12-24T14:05:00.002-05:00

Jessica's an all-inclusive kind of gal. She will mix any toy set with any other toy set. Right now she's playing with pieces from Polly Pocket, Littlest Pet Shop, Barbie, Playmobil and a Happy Meal.

Miracles

2009-12-10T10:42:00.003-05:00

Jessica had the miracle that occurs to probably hundreds of school children every day. She stayed home sick today but right after it was time for school to start, she made a miraculous recovery.

I don't think she faked the slight fever she has, though, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

Wardrobe

2009-12-09T08:15:00.001-05:00

Jessica's current outfit: a dress-up princess dress and heels, an outdoor scarf, a tiarra and no underwear (big shock, I know).

Budgeting

2009-12-07T08:19:00.002-05:00

The first day after we got back from the cruise was the PTA Holiday Fair at Jessica's school. I could either send cash or a check with the maximum amount of money I wanted her to spend. That seemed kind of weird to me, so I decided to send cash. But I didn't have anything smaller than a $20. I was afraid if I sent her with $20, she'd spend the whole wad.

Turns out I was right. Fortunately, I managed to get a $5 bill from Hari and sent that instead.

She spent every penny.

On what, I'm not sure. Hari picked her up from school and when she came in, she had a small box with her that she said, "Close your eyes, Mom!" and went running upstairs. Then I heard her talking to Hari and him saying, "Do you want to wrap it now or wait till Christmas?" It was pretty obvious she'd gotten me a present.

I have no idea what it is but the other thing she came home with was a snow/ice scraper for the car. This makes me a little afraid. At least now I know I'll get a present for Christmas.

Even if I did pay for it.

Holiday spirit

2009-12-06T17:16:00.002-05:00

Jessica is a bit too literal. Despite being told not to, she was walking around earlier wearing her Christmas stocking on her foot.

Speaking of Christmas
A couple of days ago, before the alarm off, Xander woke up and said he was hungry. I said, "What do you want for breakfast?" Jessica then woke up and said, "Did you say today was Christmas?"

Um....no. Wishful thinking.

Just pee already!

2009-11-21T08:02:00.001-05:00

Jessica, for whatever reason, is resistant to going to the bathroom. I can always tell when she has to go because she starts jiggling and bouncing all around--what I call "the potty twitch." For example, for the last 20 minutes she's been jiggling and bouncing while sitting next to me on the couch. Inevitably what happens is I repeatedly ask her, "Do you need to pee?" and she repeatedly denies it. Then suddenly she can't take it anymore and races off the to bathroom, peeling off clothes as she goes and occasionally not making it in time.

I really don't understand this girl.

Nemeses

2009-11-20T07:37:00.001-05:00

"Underwear is my nemesis," Jessica said earlier. "Clothes are my nemesis."

Truer words were never spoken.

Oh, and thank you, Phineas and Ferb for teaching my daughter the word nemesis.

Genetics

2009-11-19T18:17:00.002-05:00

For some reason, the other day I was talking to Jessica about how big she's getting (45.5 inches and 43 pounds). I told her soon she was going to be taller than me. Then I said I hoped she'd be as tall as her daddy. She thought about it for a minute, then said, "I want to be as low as you, Mommy." Umm...thank you?

On the Mend

2009-11-04T11:17:00.002-05:00

Jessica is definitely on the mend. Instead of moaning on the sofa, she's sitting at the kitchen counter, playing pretend with bits of green beans that didn't make it into Daddy's recipe. This is reminiscent of the time she spent an hour of pretend play with unpopped popcorn kernels when we were at the Outer Banks.

There's still the possibility of a relapse, from what I've heard, but it's very nice to have the old Jessica back!

Paradise Lost

2009-11-03T10:10:00.003-05:00

Okay, that didn't lost long. The paradise phase, I mean. She was fine through early evening last night, then crashed. She was coughing all night, that awful croupy sounding cough where it sounds like she's going to choke to death. She woke up this morning with a fever, complaining of dizziness and that her stomach hurt. She even said she wanted to go to the doctor. Then she threw up.

I have her parked back in bed now, tv on, and I hope she can drift back into sleep. I called the doctor but the nurse said they're trying *not* to bring in kids with the flu so that they don't get the other kids sick. I guess that makes sense. Sort of. There's not much they can really do for the flu, anyway.

Because today both kids were supposed to get the H1N1 mist, I could have brought Xander (who appears to either be developing the flu or faking it but since he doesn't have a fever was cleared to go in) but then since Hari's working, I had no one to watch Jessica.

Paradise?

2009-11-02T14:58:00.003-05:00

Jessica is sick. We suspect H1N1, since she had the seasonal flu vaccine. Ironically, she was scheduled for the H1N1 mist vaccine tomorrow. Anyway, I suspect that as far as Jessica is concerned, being sick is close to paradise. She gets to:

miss school
stay on the couch or in bed
watch unlimited tv
drink lots of juice

What more does a 6 year old want?

(fingers crossed that baby brother escapes unscathed. He's being harbored at preschool right now).

Half Day

2009-10-28T14:57:00.002-04:00

Jessica's school had a half day today for "professional development" for teachers. I had the option to send her to Xander's preschool, where they also provide after-school care for older kids. In fact, I had already made arrangements to do so. This morning, she woke up and was whining and whining and whining about how she didn't want to go to preschool and how she always has to get up and do something and how she just wanted to come home after school.

I thought about it. She was right. I had to work but she's such a good kid most of the time, after I thought about it, I realized I could probably still get most of my work done. Plus I thought it would be good for her to have a nice big block of just-Jessica free-play time.

Right now I'm sitting at my desk (working so hard, as you can tell). She's on the other side of the room, playing so intently with her little animals and dolls that she probably doesn't even realize I'm listening to her and loving every moment of her little voice narrating what the creatures are doing. I'm so lucky to have a kid who's so good at playing by herself.

The Princess Turns 6

2009-10-19T13:39:00.008-04:00

Happy 6th birthday!

My baby turned 6 on Saturday. I think she had a good day. She got to lounge around in her pajamas till 10:00 or so, opened her presents in her pajamas. Then when she had to get dressed, she got to put on her Halloween costume because her party was Saturday and she had asked for a Halloween themed party.

It was a lot of fun, actually. I had fun picking out decorations and putting together the party favors. I'll admit, though, I stole that idea, along with a few others, from other parties we've been to. It was a pizza party, too, so I went to pick up the pizza and the BARBIE CAKE about an hour before the party started. The Barbie cake, as you can see, was a very important part of the party.

Things never go how you think they will, especially with younger children. For example, I figured not every would eat their pizza at the same rate. So I bought a bunch of mini pumpkins and some markers and planned to tell the kids they could decorate pumpkins when they were done eating.

After the first couple of kids finished eating, I announced this plan and immediately every child got up, left the kitchen and stampeded towards where I had the pumpkins set up.

Then I forgot to do one of the games I had planned, which actually bummed me out.

They opened presents, ate cake, trashed Jessica's room and left with party bags. All in all, a success.

Now I kind of feel like Halloween is over, even though it's not for another 2 weeks.

Oh, and then there was the matching pajama thing with Mommy:

Recon Mission

2009-10-08T15:12:00.002-04:00

I've been kind of concerned at how much of Jessica's lunch comes back home every day. I wasn't sure if there was any supervision at the lunch table. Whenever I asked her why she wasn't eating her lunch, she would whine that she wanted to go to the stage. The first time I had gone to lunch, the kids were allowed to read books that were set out on one of the tables. I figured they must have moved the books to the stage.

Still, I was worried about her eating habits. So, I made my way to school today for my second lunch of the year with her.

I love having lunch with 20 kindergartners. Although since I was the big person at the table, I had to open several milks (not Jessica's though) and one rice crispie bar.

It became clear pretty quickly why so much food was coming back home. I was only there for maybe 20 minutes and I said at least half a dozen times, "Eat!"

The principal walked around the lunch room, paying special attention to the kindergartners. At one point I saw her tell one of Jessica's classmates that she needed to eat more. When I heard her say that, I told her that was exactly the reason I was there.

Finally, Jessica ate a little food, drank all of her milk. The big draw away from the table was that one of the adults in the cafeteria would sit on the stage and read to the kids. I let her go listen to the story that was being read.

I then chatted briefly with the principal and expressed my concern about Jessica's eating habits. She said they make sure the kids eat *something* before they're allowed to leave the table. Jessica was one of the 3 girls singled out as "pokey" eaters.

I feel better, though, knowing that there is some supervision going on. And I can't wait for my next lunch date with the little cutie!

Uh-oh

2009-09-11T15:21:00.003-04:00

I think I've created a monster. We got an American Doll catalogue today. Normally I recycle them before Jess can see them but today, since she's a big kindergartner and all, I gave it to her. Right now, she's getting ready to show me all the things she "thinks you might want to buy" for her.

Riiiiiight.....

Denim

2009-09-10T11:32:00.001-04:00

After 5 straight days of wearing dresses, and a couple of sarcastic comments from Mom about how she said she would wear pants, but wasn't wearing pants, Jessica wore jeans to school today. She didn't even fuss. And she looked so good in jeans! Of course I told her how cute she looked. Her response? "Mom! You say I look cute in everything."

She's right. But I didn't think she was paying that much attention.

Kindergarten

2009-09-02T17:28:00.002-04:00

Jessica started kindergarten today.

In typical Jessica fashion, this is how the preparation went: I had picked out a dress and tights for her a few days ago. I showed them to her last night and got her approval. It was an aqua dress and aqua tights.

This morning when I said it was time to get dressed, she immediately told me she wanted to wear purple. Whatever. I checked her closet and she had a short-sleeved purple dress hanging there. I took it down and gave it to her.

In typical Laura fashion, I didn't realize until we were walking to the bus stop that the purple dress had a spot on it. A rather large spot.

But other than a slightly dirty dress, everything went fine. I had planned to drive to the bus stop, just because I was going to take her brother to daycare immediately after. But she wanted to walk, so we walked. Daddy and Xander were with us. The cat decided to come along too.

At the bus stop 1 other kindergartner, a 1st and 2nd grader, and a 6th grader joined us. I wasn't the only one with a camera. The bus was relatively on time (apparently last year on the first day it was 20 minutes late). I was so busy taking pictures I almost didn't have time for a quick hug and kiss before she climbed up onto the bus. She totally took it in stride.

I'll admit, I was a bit worried about how she'd do. She's done a fair amount of crying and clinging at drop-offs, especially in new situations, and as recently as this summer at camp. She told us several times yesterday that she had butterflies in her stomach. Maybe it was just the hustle and bustle of getting on the bus, but whatever it was, I was so proud of my little girl.

At least there are no panty lines......

2009-09-01T09:34:00.001-04:00

Author's note: this post has been 3 months in the making, partially because I kept getting new material to add to it.

Jessica has a problem keeping on her underwear. I first recognized this problem at a Memorial Day barbeque. I had laid out clothes for her to wear but somehow she ended up at the bbq sans underwear.

Of course, I didn't realize it till at least halfway through the afternoon. And it was at least half an hour after she turned fast and gave the bbq attendees an eyeful. I thought they were laughing because they could see her underwear, silly Mommy.

When I asked her why she wasn't wear her underwear, she told me I didn't put it out for her. Obviously the idea of asking me to get her some never occurred to her.

Several times after that, she didn't put on underwear again because she said I didn't put it out for her. I repeated she should ask me for it if she doesn't see it, not just to not wear it.

About a week later after Memorial Day we were at another bbq. This time she had an accident. Since I didn't have extra panties with me, she went without underwear for the rest of day. Unlike the Memorial Day bbq, however, she was wearing a much shorter dress.

Then there was the time I sent her to camp in her bathing suit. I packed underwear in her backpack for after swim was over but she didn't see it so when she got dressed, she just didn't put on any underwear.

Are you seeing a theme here?

Apparently, this lack of undergarments is quite memorable. Her friend Ainsley protested wearing underwear one day saying, "Jessica doesn't." Fabulous. That's what my kid is going to be known for.

"I'll be right back"

2009-08-31T09:47:00.002-04:00

Jessica has a tendency to put her shirts and underwear on backwards. I always tell her to look for the label, but apparently that's advice wasted on youth. Yesterday morning I noticed her pajama top looked like it was on backwards because the collar was really high. I asked her if if shirt was on backwards and reached forward to look for the label.

She pulled away, peeked at the inside of the collar, then said, "I'll be right back," and disappeared into the bedroom. A minute later she was back. I could see that now there was a little applique flower in the center of the collar, indicating front was front.

She proudly said, "See! It wasn't on backwards."

Wow, I guess I was wrong. ; )

Random quotes

2009-08-24T10:16:00.002-04:00

So Aunt Nutan gave me a great quote by Jessica from over the weekend (when she was in NJ and I was in MA and therefore didn't hear it myself):
"So, Kiran's done milking you?"

This made me think of some other funny things she's said.

Towards the end of the school year, apparently she developed the habit (this was told to me by her teacher), when a large group of kids got too loud and excited, of saying, "Okay, everyone, just calm down." On a related theme, she also likes to talk about "freaking out."

Finally, she's been telling me all summer about this boy the kids saw on the playground at camp. Only she refers to him as "skateboard dude."

It's amazing the slang terms they pick up.

Quote of the day

2009-08-18T17:50:00.000-04:00

(while swimming at the pool) "Water hugs are the best."

Repost

2009-08-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

I posted this on FB (that's Facebook for you nonbelievers), but it was so funny that I still laugh when I think about it, so I'm recording it for posterity in Jessica's blog.

A while ago, Jessica developed the amusing habit of saying "Alert! Alert!" when something was happening that she thought needed adult intervention. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Xander had a poopy diaper and ran upstairs when I told him I wanted to change it. Within a couple of minutes, we heard Jessica shouting from upstairs, "Stink alert! Stink alert!"

The end of an era

2009-08-07T19:47:00.002-04:00

Jessica has, for several years, been obssessed with the colors pink and purple, to the point where she refused to wear anything else. I could occasionally slip in an orange or a cyan but for the most part, her wardrobe was P&P.

Today, we were at Target. They had T-shirts on sale, and she's outgrowing her 5's, so I decided to get a few for school. She was with me, so I grabbed the plain pastel pink top and asked her if she wanted it, as I was throwing it into the cart.

"No."

Scrreeeeeeech. It was like the sound of rubbing the needle against a vinyl record.

What? No?

She then pointed out a polka dotted purple shirt she wanted. Okay, that was within the accepted color scheme. Then she picked, gasp, a blue (and pink) striped shirt. I told her she could also get the pink shirt (they were only $4; what can I say, I'm a big spender). Still no. She told me she wanted the ones with patterns.

Daring to be bold, I asked if she wanted the polka dotted brown shirt. And she said yes!

Really pushing my luck, I asked her what she would wear them with. Would she wear them with jeans?

"Yes."

You all probably felt the earth stop spinning for that single moment.

Jeans. My girl agreed to wear jeans.

Of course, it's a big step from saying she's going to wear them and having her actually willingly put them on, but it's a good first step.

I'm not sure I like the territory we're entering

2009-08-05T12:30:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday, Xander and Jessica's daycare/camp had a summer outing at a lake where the older kids go every day for camp. There were PONY RIDES, so of course we had to go. I, predictably, got off to a late start. The kids were at a playdate and I was reluctant to pull them away early. Then we got into the car and our extremely unreliable GPS wouldn't pick up a signal. I floundered my way through downtown Worcester before finally getting onto Route 9, and we were good.

However, the result was that we didn't get there till past 1:00, and the outing was from 11 to 3. I immediately put Jessica on a pony, because I wasn't sure how long the pony rides were going to last. We got some lunch (pasta salad, hot dogs, chips, the usual barbeque fare). Then we went to go swimming. As I was reaching into our bag, I had a very clear memory of telling myself to throw in Jessica's bathing suit. I had an equally clear memory of not having done it.

Fortunately, I knew there was a Walmart nearby. And just a few days earlier, I had mentioned to Hari that I needed to buy some size 6 bathings suits now, because Jessica would need them for winter swim lessons and I had a terrible time trying to find size 5 bathing suits in the middle of winter this past year. So I thought this was actually a good thing, because I'd buy her a size 6 bathing suit now, and she'd have it.

Now for the troublesome part. They were rather limited on size 6/6X bathing suits. Since I refused to buy a Sponge Bob bathing suit, that left us exactly one choice. So I bought it. First, it's a little big, which led to exposure issues, but even if it weren't big, it's extremely provactively cut. Why does a 6 year old need a provacative bathing suit? Argh!!!!!

Please, shoot me now

2009-07-13T11:54:00.003-04:00

before Jessica becomes a teenager. I can't imagine this is as bad as it gets, but she's already driving me crazy.

For example, 3 days a week for 10 months, she told me that she didn't want to go to preschool because she hated rest time. It was as though, if she didn't have to rest, she would be perfectly happy and willing to go to school. But the law says she had to rest, and so I endured the complaint Every Single Day she went to school.

Okay.

Today she started church camp. I read over their literature and didn't see anything about rest time, so I figured we were in the clear. Not only that, I used it as a selling point this morning, when Jessica was nervous (understandably) about going to a new camp where she didn't know anyone.

"You won't have to rest," I told her.

"Well," she said, and I knew then that I was in trouble. "Well, I think I kind of like rest time, after all."

I repeat, please, just shoot me now.

My status is improving

2009-07-10T09:29:00.003-04:00

Jessica likes to be a food critic. Usually I get one or two thumbs down. Sometimes I get lucky and get thumbs up. Well, this week I've been getting rave reviews, predictably in the dessert department.

First, I made this dessert pie off a recipe from the coupon flier. It had sweetened condensed milk, cool whip and frozen berries in a graham cracker crust. Really, how can you go wrong with that? I got TEN FINGERS up.

Then there was the monkey bread. I had never heard of monkey bread till a couple of months ago. I decided to try it while I was visiting Lisa, so I wouldn't be tempted to eat all of it myself. Ingredients: refrigerated biscuits, sugar (brown and white), cinnamon, butter and pecans. Again, how can you go wrong. I got 10 more fingers up.

Go Mommy.

Now if I could only get her to give me a few fingers up for something without sugar in it.

Quote of the day

2009-07-08T17:53:00.001-04:00

"Mom, if you don't hear me say anything, let me know, because sometimes I don't listen to myself."

Okaaaaay.......

Maybe it's worth it.

2009-07-08T11:30:00.003-04:00

I bought 2 dresses for Jessica yesterday. Yes, I have a serious problem but that's not what this post is about. This post is about what I discovered when I was taking the tags off one of the dresses today so she could wear it. This is what the tag says:

I have a problem with both the hand wash and the extremely complex drying instructions. Normally if it can't go into the washing machine and dryer, I won't buy it. But look at how cute she looks in the first of the dresses:

Maybe it's worth it.

"You take care of me."

2009-06-11T15:58:00.003-04:00

The other day, I received a postcard in the mail from Jessica. It kind of baffled me. But there was no doubt it was from her. It had her trademark signature on it. I actually got it from the mailbox on my way to pick her up from preschool. When I saw her, I asked her about it. She said they had mailed them from school. I thanked her for it.

Then she said, "Well, I wanted to send it to someone who I love a lot. You take care of me. You do everything for me, Mommy."

It was actually really nice to know my 5 year old appreciates me!

Apparently bribery works

2009-06-04T14:26:00.002-04:00

In the ongoing battle to get Jessica out of my bed (or, to be more precise, to get me out of her bed), I've had to use bribery. At first, I offered something abstract--a sleepover! She really wants to have one but I can't let a friend come over and then have Jessica yelling for me to come down to her room with her friend there.

That didn't work. She was excited about the idea, but when I reminded her of the reward in the middle of the night, it wasn't enough to get her back into her bed alone.

What worked? (so far): Barbie! The mermaidia fairytopia barbie to be exact. We had bought a Mermaidia movie months ago and it came with advertising for all the toys that related to the movie. Well, the movie came out over 2 years ago and the toys are no longer available, especially the one she really really wanted. I finally found it on ebay (where else?) and bought it to offer as a bribe.

So, in the last week or so, she's slept 4 nights in her bed. Now, on at least 2 of those nights, I spent some time in the bottom bunk with Xander, who still wakes a couple of times a night if he's not in bed with me (working on that too, believe me). But she thought I was in my room, so I think that counts.

That's my girl!

2009-05-27T08:57:00.001-04:00

Recently Jessica has been lecturing me to "reduce, reuse, recycle" and she told me this morning how the landfills are "getting big." (I assumed she meant full). Her preschool is teaching her all about that. Yay!

Gag order

2009-05-16T17:47:00.004-04:00

I knew this day would come.

Sadly, Jessica has become acutely aware of things I say about her to other people. While visiting Aunt Nutan a few weeks ago, we were talking about her infamous "I'll be pregnant" comment. Since then she's twice told me that she was "very embarrassed" by my telling other people about that, and has asked me not to tell other people about things she says.

I'm wondering if I can get by on a "don't ask, tell" policy: if I don't ask her, then it's okay to tell people about the things she says.

And it just figures that there's a pretty good story from this afternoon that she specifically told me not to tell anyone about. Since I want her to trust me when it comes to more important things, I'll honor her request. And then in a week or two I won't remember it and it will be lost forever.

Boy talk

2009-05-11T11:41:00.004-04:00

It started innocently enough. Jessica said something along the lines of boys being yucky.

I figured might as well start talking about boys now, though with Jessica, you never know what's going to come out of her mouth.

I asked her if she liked boys. Her response was negative, but she did mention she knew who she was going to marry. Burning with curiousity, I asked who.

"Cooper." Cooper has the cubby next to her at preschool, I think.

"Does he know that?"

"No."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"No." I could hear the duh in her tone.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Smiling: "Dan." Dan lives near the post office. Jessica went to his house for trick-or-treating last year."

"Does he know?"

"No."

"Why don't you tell him?" She became demure. Then she said something about Peyton also having a boyfriend. Peyton's boyfriend is Troy. If Jessica could text, Peyton would be her BFF.

"Oh, that's just secret girl stuff."

I decided to stop the interrogation. It scares me that we may be having this conversation for real in about 5 years. (If it's less, don't tell me).

Quote of the day

2009-05-02T18:49:00.001-04:00

"And it's a nose-picker alien!" (Sadly, in reference to her brother).

I hope she's never my dentist

2009-05-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

Jessica is playing dentist with Xander. She's "Dentist Rosie." My dentists never have nice friendly names like that. Anyway, Dentist Rosie just did something to patient Xander's mouth. She concluded with "Now, don't eat for 2 days."

Wow, that's some procedure.

(eye roll)

2009-04-12T07:17:00.001-04:00

As I watched my beautiful daughter playing with her Easter stash, I felt the need to tell her how much I love her.

Her response?

"I know that already! You've been telling me that ever since I was born."

Pardon me. ; )

So sweet!

2009-04-11T08:20:00.002-04:00

Even though the kids start out (almost) every night in their own bed, they inevitably join Mommy in her big bed. For Jessica, that means taking her stuffed animal(s). It's really quite amazing. Hari witnessed her one night, half asleep, running all around making sure she got 3 stuffed animals, plus her water sippy, before she walked right past him on the couch and went upstairs to our bedroom.

Jessica usually comes up first, and Xander follows later, unless Jessica cries so loudly before leaving the room that she wakes him up. Well, last night, Jessica had an armful of animals as usual and it wasn't until morning when I saw she had not only brought her animal and sippy cup, but she had taken the trouble to bring up Xander's dog Dodger and his sippy cup too. And then this morning when she came downstairs to join Xander and me (he always wakes up before her), she brought down her animal and Dodger as well. How thoughtful!

How to lose years off your life

2009-04-10T17:26:00.002-04:00

Have a conversation with your 5 year old that goes along these lines:

Jessica: "Mom, when can I drive?"

Mom: "A car?"

Jessica: "Yes."

Mom: "In about 10 years."

Jessica: "But that's when I'm going to be pregnant.

Mom, hoping she didn't hear right: "What?!"

Jessica: "But that's when I'm pregnant" (it got even better the second time).

Mom: "No no no no...you are not going to be pregnant for AT LEAST 20 years." (please)

I will now commence drinking a large glass of wine to soothe my frazzled nerves.

Anatomy

2009-03-28T15:03:00.004-04:00

Jessica, like many little girls her age, loves unicorns. You know the pointy part that comes out of their forehead? (the part that adults refer to as a horn.) That part of their body is the unicorn. Usage: when talking about her stuffed animal unicorn Sparkle: "This is Sparkle's unicorn."

* * *

So, we had a gorgeous day on Friday, warm, mostly sunny. I took the kids to the playground. This is what Jessica decided would be the perfect thing to wear on a nice spring day:

Not only was it her Christmas dress, which I'd been meaning to put away in the category outgrown, but this is the pattern of the leggings she chose to wear with the dress:

This is just a nice picture of her.

Where are her listening ears?

2009-03-23T08:01:00.002-04:00

Jessica was eating breakfast this morning. I asked her if she wanted to wear a dress today. I could tell she wasn't really listening to me. She said no. So I knew she wasn't listening to me. "You don't want to wear a dress?" I asked in disbelief.

She turned and looked me in the eyes. All of a sudden the fog seemed to clear. "Ohhh," she said. Covering her tracks, she added, "I thought you said bess."

Fashion Sense

2009-03-22T11:28:00.002-04:00

Jessica has been begging me lately for a snazzy glittery glitzy gymnastics leotard. The kind half the kids in the gymnastics school are wearing. The kind that are prominently displayed in the gymnastic school's shop, which we must walk past every week to get to the gym where her class is held.

I suspected they were kind of expensive, and decided to confirm it by popping into the shop the last time we were there. The kind she wants are about $30. At first I said no, that was too expensive.

Then I began to crunch some numbers.

She'll wear it for maybe 6 months before outgrowing it (assuming she doesn't decide to quit gymnastics, which is a completely random factor.) That's 26 weeks. She wears it for an hour long class. That's 26 hours she'd be wearing it. At $30 that's a shade over $1 per hour of use. Kind of pricey.

But let's think about it.

Is it worth a shade over $1/hour to not have to listen to her whine and beg every time we go to class? It just might be. I'm conveniently ignoring the part of my mind that is telling me if I give in to her just because she's whining I'm setting a terrible precedent.

How to tell who dressed her

2009-03-19T09:43:00.003-04:00

Normally, I pick out Jessica's clothes. Partly because she'd gladly stay in her pajamas, or naked, all day, and partly to take pride in her being well-dressed and well-matched.

Yesterday's outfit:
pink striped long sleeve shirt (narrow horizontal stripes) and a purple flowered (almost paisley) jumper.

Today's outfit:
yellow and green (with a little pink, of course) jumper with a black long sleeved shirt. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the only reason she even owns a BLACK shirt is that I bought it to go under her butterfly Halloween costume which was mostly black gauze.

Needless to say, I did not pick out these outfits. However, while yesterday's outfit was all Jessica's choosing, today Daddy had a hand in the choosing. I told her, if anyone asked, to make sure they knew Daddy helped dressed her today.

So much for routine

2009-03-12T19:01:00.000-04:00

Little kids like routine. That's what "they" say. So, almost every day, 3 days a week, I sent Jessica with the same lunch for lunchtime at preschool: milk, blueberry (occasionally strawberry) yogurt, an apple and some cheese spread and crackers. I never heard any complaints from her so I figured that was good.

Then, very suddenly, on Tuesday, she broke. We were getting ready to leave for preschool, and she said, "Why do you ALWAYS give me yogurt?" All of a sudden, it was a huge problem. Lunch was already packed at that point, so I swore up and down to send her something else the next time she went to school. Which I did. It was just funny how quickly and completely she cracked.

Best laid plans...

2009-03-11T21:09:00.005-04:00

While I was on vacation last month, I was perusing Boston.com and an ad for an exhibit at the Science Museum popped up. The exhibit was on dragons, mermaids and unicorns. That would be right up Jessica's alley, I told myself. I found out the exhibit was ending mid March, so I made plans to go this past week.

We met Kristin and her boys there. They had already seen the exhibit but wanted to see the dragons again. We saw the frogs exhibit first, because we came across it first and who doesn't like frogs? Then we went to the "mythical creatures" (as it was officially titled) exhibit.

It started off badly and got worse from there.

The first thing you see when you walk into the exhibit is this big dragon. Kemper and Rowan, being boys, thought this was fantastic. Jessica--not so much. She grabbed tightly onto my hand. Then we saw some more, mostly scary looking, mythical creatures, that looked like gargoyles and the living dead. Even the mermaids were kind of scary looking. I finally spotted a unicorn and tried to steer Jessica toward it but she wouldn't get within 10 feet of it because there was this other very large scary looking creature on the way.

I gave up at that point and try to find the exit while listening to Jessica say, "I'm scared, Mommy, I'm scared." Apparently the exit was not the entrance, because they steered you through a special store where they tried to get you to buy merchandise. I didn't realize this and went back to the entrance, dragging Jessica, who continued to cling tightly to my hand. We convinced someone who worked there (actually, Kristin convinced them) to let us out the entrance due to fear factor.

I'm not sure why she is so scared of some things, poor baby. The same thing happened when we went to the National Zoo on vacation. She was scared of the life-size model of a triceratops (or whatever):

Xander seemed okay with it, though.

Then she didn't like the dinosaur skull (it might have been a tyrannosaurus rex)

This was her reaction, after I got her to very reluctantly pose:

This tiger was much more her speed:

I feel kind of bad that she's so afraid of some things. I'm hoping she's just a sensitive little soul.

Melting heart

2009-03-07T06:58:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning to 2 more kids in my bed than when I went to sleep. Jessica joined us about 12:30 and Xander came in about 1:30. When I woke up they were both asleep, and looking so sweet. I reached over and touched Jessica's cheek. One of her eyes opened. I immediately closed my eyes to indicate we didn't need to wake up yet. When I opened my eyes back up a minute later, she had her hand on Xander's cheek. It was so sweet and tender it made my heart melt.

Time

2009-02-17T14:55:00.002-05:00

I bought Jessica a new toy for the long drive to NC. It was a little portable Bratz (yes, I buy my daughter Bratz stuff; I'm okay with it) dollhouse. I knew she would love it. And she was really excited when I gave it to her on the morning of the second day of the trip.

"I love it, Mommy! I'm going to play with it for 28 days!"

Five minutes later she was begging me to play with the new toy I had bought for her brother.

Apparently time doesn't pass in the same way it used to.

You'd think....

2009-02-07T15:17:00.002-05:00

You'd think a professional photographer could take a picture in focus. Apparently this is what passes for artsy in Wondertime:

(March 2009, Wondertime)

Jessica the Destructor

2009-02-01T10:26:00.001-05:00

The playmobil castle I got for the kids for Christmas is currently in several large pieces. I'm not sure what happened. I wasn't witness to the carnage. I just asked Jessica if she wanted me to put it back together.

"No, thanks," she said. "I like it destroyed. Every time you try to fix it, I'll destroy it."

That's incentive.

2009-01-30T19:28:00.000-05:00

Subcontracting

2009-01-25T12:01:00.002-05:00

One of Jessica's chores is to empty the utensils from the dishwasher into the utensil drawer. She gets off pretty easy because usually by the time I get to unloading the dishwasher, it needs to be loaded (and ran) again, so I frequently put the utensils away myself in order to be able to put the dirty utensils in.

This morning I decided she could do it, so I took the utensil tray out of the dishwasher and put it on the counter. To make things easier for her, we usually take the utensils tray from the drawer and put in on the floor and she loads it from there.

So, when she was ready, she took the dishwasher utensil tray off the counter and the drawer utensil tray from the drawer. I hadn't nagged her, she just started doing it, so I told her she was doing a good job.

Then I saw Xander over there with her, and decided to keep a closer eye. Last time Xander "helped" Jessica with this task, spoons and forks were intermingled in complete disorganization.

Turns out he wasn't helping her; he was *doing* the job. Apparently she had subcontracted the job out and was "letting" him do it. She left the room before her father called her back in and said if she was going to subcontract, she had to stay in the room and supervise.

The job got done with most of the utensils in the right place. Good enough for government work.

You will be glad to know....

2009-01-24T08:29:00.001-05:00

A direct quote from Jessica:
"Jessica Kiran is on the case," she said when Daddy asked her to help with breakfast.

The lion and the unicorn

2009-01-22T19:10:00.001-05:00

We have this Wiggles CD that we've listened to in the car approximately a billion times. One of the songs is called the Lion and the Unicorn. It starts something like "the lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown." I try to pay as little attention as possible. But I guess in the end the lion triumphs over the unicorn.

The other day it came on and Jessica asked, "Why does the lion always win?" Yet another question I couldn't answer.

* * *

I can't count the number of times Jessica has said to me "You're not the boss of me. You're the boss of yourself." Could she be any more sassy?

Mo-om....

2009-01-16T14:16:00.002-05:00

Jessica gives me a hard time about going to school roughly 2 out of 3 days. She says it's because she doesn't like to rest, but often when we get to school, some other reason comes out. The other day she said it was because she had a band-aid on her hand and she was worried the other kids would make fun of her. Whether that was the real reason, I guess I'll never know.

But when we got to school, she was standing next to a few friends. I knelt down next to her and said, in a fairly quiet voice, "See how glad you are to be here now? Why did you say you didn't want to go?"

"Mo-om....not in front of my friends."

Oh, so sorry. I beg your pardon. ; )

Victory is mine

2009-01-09T15:18:00.002-05:00

It has been frustrating to feed Jessica lately. She either doesn't want to eat anything that's prepared for her, but has a whole lot of alternatives she expects Mom's Restaurant to serve up or wants to snack all day instead. Or she asks for more of whatever she's eating, takes 2 (or 1 or 0) mouthfuls and says she's done. Or she asks for something else while she's still eating whatever's on her plate. For example, she'll ask for a second bowl of cereal, not eat it and then demand a piece of toast.

Breakfast is hard to keep, but I've been threatening her lately that if she doesn't eat her lunch I'm going to keep it and if she's hungry in the afternoon, that's what she's going to eat. Today I made her 2 lunches. The first was PB&J because I took it to the Y. She ate some goldfish instead. When we got home she just had to have macaroni and cheese and since I had leftovers, I heated it up. I think she ate a little but not more. I told her if she was hungry later she was going to have her lunch.

Brother got a granola bar for a snack and she asked for one. I told her she could eat her lunch. No response. After a second request for a granola bar and a second reminder about her uneaten lunch she agreed to eat the PB&J! Yay! I'm sure all my meal problems are solved now, right? ; )

It all depends on your point of view

2009-01-01T21:55:00.002-05:00

Today is New Year's Day. Jessica went out with Daddy to Chinatown last night and then they spent the night at a friends' house. She got about 7 or 8 hours of sleep. This became apparent when we were driving home from a playdate. She wanted chicken mcnuggets and since I suspected she wasn't going to be all that keen on the moroccan stew cooking in the Crockpot, I got her some. But by the time sheasked, I had already whizzed past the McDonald's on the turnpike.

Now, remember, she was sleep-deprived. So when she screamed at me to turn around and go back to the McDonald's, I took it in stride. I told her there was another coming up in 5 minutes, because I sincerely thought there was a McDonald's at the Westboro service plaza. Well, she didn't like the idea of driving to the next one and kept insisting I turn the car around. I didn't. But then I felt pretty bad when I discovered there was no McDonald's coming up. Fortunately, after a few more minutes of screaming, she fell asleep.

Being the softie and sucker that I am, I stopped at a McDonald's on the way back, even though she was asleep and therefore was no longer screaming for it.

She woke up as soon as we got home. She immediately started in on the chicken nuggets. I pulled them out of the bag, thinking this would make me the best mom ever, but she was *still* complaining about how I hadn't gone back to the first McDonald's. Yes, even though she had chicken nuggets in her hot little hand, she was still complaining.

It got worse.

She wanted, as most kids do, ketchup to go with her fries and chicken nuggets. The girl at the drive-through had neglected to put any packets in our bag. No problem, I said, we'd use our ketchup.

I went to our refrigerator.

Problem.

We threw out the entire contents of our refrigerator after the Ice Storm. I swear I put ketchup on the shopping list Hari took with him. But I might have taken it back off, thinking it could wait for the second trip.

That was a big mistake. There was no ketchup in the house. And she refused to eat her food because there was no ketchup. It's currently sitting in the fridge because she wanted to keep it for when we get ketchup. i didn't even try to explain about how it's going to be inedible by tomorrow. It's probably already inedible.

Eventually I reheated the leftover macaroni and cheese from a couple of nights ago, gave her an ice cream cone and got her to bed ASAP.

However, while she was eating her reheated mac & cheese, I was eating a hamburger. I went to get the ketchup to put on it and suddenly realized how disappointed she must have been to find there was no ketchup based on how disappointed I was when I found there was no ketchup.

Tomorrow we will be buying ketchup.

Imagination

2008-12-30T11:24:00.001-05:00

Jessica can make anything come to life. Right now she's having a couple of weapons from her knight's castle talk to some beads from her jewelry making kit. Everyone seems to be getting along.

It's not fair!

2008-12-11T18:13:00.002-05:00

I got up late this week on both daycare days, once because the alarm didn't go off and once because I was sleeping on the floor in the kids' room (not recommended, by the way) and didn't hear it from downstairs. I didn't have time to get both kids ready so I got Xander ready and left while Hari got Jessica ready. Now, when I get her ready, it's all must-have-dresses or must-have-pink-or-purple. I got back this morning in time to pick her up and take her to school and what was she wearing? Purple top and BLACK PANTS. I get the feeling Hari just pulls whatever comes to hand out of her dresser and hands them to her and she puts them on. It's not fair!

Counting

2008-12-06T16:39:00.002-05:00

We have a lift-the-flap book and one of the pages shows flaps up numbered 1 to 20. Jessica impressed me by reading the numbers in order. Till we got past 10. Then she needed some help. She skipped 13, as she always does. I don't know if she's superstitious or that just happens to be a number she forgets. Then we got higher: 17-18-19....Ten-teen.

The same book also has a page with shapes. Did you know the shape of a stop sign is an optagon?

My little "help"er

2008-12-05T18:19:00.003-05:00

I wanted to drink a diet Dr. Pepper. I had only one can cold in the fridge, so I took it out. Jessica picked it up and asked if she could help me open it. Even though I said no (nicely), she continued to hold onto it. Before I could disarm him she was "helping" me by shaking it.

I have not yet dared to open that can. Another one is currently chilling in the fridge.

How do you answer this?

2008-12-04T15:27:00.002-05:00

In the last two days, Jessica has said several times that she wants to "be alone." "I never get to be alone," she says. Or, "Why don't I ever get to be alone?" What do you say to that? It's not like I can just leave her alone in the house. How does a 5 year old get to be really alone?

(I won't get into wondering why she wants to be alone. Maybe she just wants to be introspective.)

Species confusion

2008-12-02T13:13:00.003-05:00

Jessica's favorite stuffed animal is Sally, her build-a-bear dog. Sally is a siberian husky. Jessica got Sally last Christmas. In the last month or two, she's been insisting Sally is a cat. Why? Because she has pointed (triangular) ears, like a cat. We even had to buy some cat toys for Sally and her "kitten" Cookie (the matching Siberian husky puppy).

She's just a little bit crazy. = )

Mathmetician and magician

2008-11-28T12:56:00.000-05:00

Mathmetician:
Last night I made Jessica a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sometimes she likes them cut into pieces and sometimes she wants it whole (but NEVER with the crusts). So, I asked her if she wanted 4 small pieces or 1 big piece. She answered 5 pieces. I said I couldn't do that, thinking I couldn't cut 4 equal pieces. So I cut the sandwich in half, and then into quarter. She then told me to cut one of the quarters in half for: 5 pieces!

Magician:
Then, this morning she wanted pancakes. It was a daycare day, which means we run around like crazy things trying to get out the door in time. I told her I didn't have enough time to make pancakes from scratch, but there were a few leftover from last time we'd made them. She complained a little when I put only 4 (silver dollar sized) on her plate. "I want more," she said. Again, I explained about the time limit.

A few minutes later she said, "Look, Mom! I made more!" I looked at her plate and she had cut the 4 pancakes into pieces. Yep, there was now more then 4 pancakes.

Modeling

2008-11-25T06:40:00.003-05:00

Jessica in the current issue of Family Fun. Sort of looks like a fish out of water, huh? ; )

In her recent shoot for the March 2009 issue of Wondertime, an article about picky eaters. (Blurry because I couldn't use the flash while the real photographer was shooting). She's "pretending" to hate brussel sprouts.

Introducing....the -Ator family

2008-11-19T15:19:00.002-05:00

Hari's nickname for Xander is the Nikalator. Don't ask me why. Then Jessica became the Jessinator. Well, now Jessica is calling us the Mominator and Dadinator.

Infinite Loop

2008-11-09T19:04:00.002-05:00

As much as I hate to admit it, Jessica likes Barbie and stuff related to Barbie. This includes these animated Barbie movies, of which there seems to be an almost unlimited quantity. I've somehow gotten myself into a bit of a situation with these movies.

We get them from the library. Unlike the books, which carry no fine (and which I'm probably at this point known as the lady who never returns her books on time), the DVDs rack up $1/day for late fines. Being as frugal as I am, I am never late with the movies. However, I am lazy, in that I never seem to be able to get to the library before I pick Jessica up from preschool (which is right across the street from the library). Therefore, we always end up returning the DVD after I pick her up. And every time she asks for a new movie. By 3:30 I'm pretty tired and worn down, and saying no is not a battle I wish to have. So she gets a new movie.

I may be able to get off the hook this week, though. We've been returning the movies on Tuesdays, because that's the day we took out the first one. However, the library is closed this Tuesday, so it's not due till Wednesday. I just have to figure out how to get to the library without Jessica on Wednesday, since she's not in school at all.

"And (she) was a beautiful butterfly"

2008-11-06T12:01:00.001-05:00

--the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

I couldn't get a good shot of the wings.

(Note the CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS behind her, in the Mall, on HALLOWEEN).

I don't know who was more upset today

2008-11-05T21:25:00.003-05:00

Me or Jessica. However, if you had to base it on the amount of screaming, crying and struggling, I would say it was her.

It was check-up day. Last year she had 4 shots and she remembered every single minute of it. This year she had 2 shots and a blood draw. I needed to get some of my own blood drawn, so I had put it off so we could do it together so she could see it wasn't a big deal. That didn't work out as I had hoped. In fact, it might have freaked her out more, if that was possible.

The good news is she's a healthy 5 year old who doesn't eat enough vegetables. And a friend told me no more vaccinations till high school! Woohoo! At least by then she'll be a more rational human being. Well, about shots anyway.

Stats:
39 lbs
3'7"

After last year's Screamfest, I told Hari he was taking her this year because it was awful, holding her down for shots. It wasn't much better this year, but I thought about it beforehand and decided to let her choose who she wanted to take her. After all, it wasn't about me, it was about her. She wanted Mommy, so she got Mommy.

And a new toy. Daddy probably wouldn't have done that.

Pretend real life

2008-11-04T11:11:00.003-05:00

I love it how Jessica doesn't want to listen to anything I say to her but she'll happily play "mom" and "daughter" with a friend and listen to whatever her pretend Mom says. Maybe if I can persuade her that I'm just her pretend Mom telling her to brush her teeth and get dressed, she'll do it.

Being played (TMI warning)

2008-11-02T17:00:00.002-05:00

Jessica is playing me for a sucker. Ever since she was potty-trained I've been wiping her when she poops. I don't actually know why I've been agreeing to this, other than the mistaken idea that she couldn't wipe herself properly.

Yesterday she had a playdate with Kemper & Rowan, while Hari and I went for a tour of Waltham with their father. When I got back, Kristin announced that she had pooped and then wiped herself without even asking for assistance.

Things are going to be changing in our house, I can tell you that.

It's different when it's my money

2008-10-23T15:11:00.002-04:00

Jessica is one of those kids (maybe it's every kid, I don't know) who wants EVERYTHING she sees. "I want that" and "Can I have that" are her two favorite sentences. Whenever we're shopping, if I can't/don't avoid the toy aisle, I get all sorts of begging for more toys.

Well, Aunt Nutan sent her a Target gift card for her birthday (Thank you, Aunt Nutan!). We went into the toy section and all of a sudden, she was discriminating. I kept asking her, do you like this? or do you want this? but she was very choosy. She ended up with two toys and some gum. Where the idea for gum came from since I never give it her, I don't know.

I just thought it was funny how, when it was on her dime, she didn't want everything in sight.

I see a valuable lesson to be learned with giving her an allowance.

Jessica's Journal--A Little Girl's Life

New address

My angel

Absence does not make the heart grow fonder

Small miracle

The professional

7 years of luck

Phrasing

Losing my marbles

Dorothy

Cat envy

Time management

Kitten!

Playdate

Travel

This and that

We're off to see the Wizard

Play ball!

Let's Dance

Daisy Promise

No means yes

Tooth fairy

Note to self

Everybody loves Saturday (afternoon)

Yet more abc's

ABC's

Mushiness

Finally!

Lights camera action!

Sharks!

That's what I've been doing wrong...

All inclusive

Miracles

Wardrobe

Budgeting

Holiday spirit

Just pee already!

Nemeses

Genetics

On the Mend

Paradise Lost

Paradise?

Half Day

The Princess Turns 6

Recon Mission

Uh-oh

Denim

Kindergarten

At least there are no panty lines......

"I'll be right back"

Random quotes

Quote of the day

Repost

The end of an era

I'm not sure I like the territory we're entering

Please, shoot me now

My status is improving

Quote of the day

Maybe it's worth it.

"You take care of me."

Apparently bribery works

That's my girl!

Gag order

Boy talk

Quote of the day

I hope she's never *my* dentist

(eye roll)

So sweet!

How to lose years off your life

Anatomy

Where are her listening ears?

Fashion Sense

How to tell who dressed her

So much for routine

Best laid plans...

Melting heart

Time

You'd think....

Jessica the Destructor

Subcontracting

I hope she's never my dentist